Tasks and activities

LEGISLATION

The legal framework for military defence, in other words the laws and presidential decrees, government decrees and Ministry of Defence decrees are prepared in the Ministry. The Legal Unit is for the main part responsible for statute drafting and preparation of statutory policy.

The Ministry of Defence is responsible, in the first place, for the laws and regulations governing conscript service, the organisation and tasks of the Defence Forces, preparedness in emergency situations (state of defence), international military crisis management, export of defence materiel, voluntary national defence, health care in the Defence Forces and the National Defence University. In addition, the transposition of international treaties and other internationally binding obligations play an important role in the responsibilities of the Ministry.

The administrative branch of the Ministry of Defence is influenced by statute drafting carried out in other ministries and therefore the Ministry takes actively part in statute drafting in other administrative branches if it has relevance to or has an effect on the activities of defence administration.

Apart from its main tasks, the Legal Unit supports statute drafting in other units and assists them in general legal questions. The Legal Unit supervises conformity to law of the Ministry of Defence and the entire administrative branch.

Also the translations into Swedish and English which are required in the Ministry are done in the Legal Unit. High quality and openness in statute drafting is paid close attention to in the Legal Unit as well as in the entire Ministry.

The section Statute drafting provides information on topical statutory initiatives. Government proposals, committee reports, requests for comment, working groups and other initiative-related material can be found in that section.